Cameron Russell

It's going to sound ridiculous, but knowing how to pose, how to maintain a level of engagement and variation for a day of shooting, is actually a skill.

My first day of high school, I wore brown boys' corduroys that my mom had sewn Sesame Street elastic into - they were my coolest pants - and a lime green Patagonia fleece that my mom found at Goodwill. I loved fleece.

I'm not promoting anything totally unhealthy because I'm not unhealthy. But I am promoting an ideal that's not attainable, and for that I have to feel guilty. I have to assume some blame for that.

A ton of little girls I talk to, they want to be actresses or singers or models.

My last two years of high school, I think I went to Burger King every day for lunch.

Modelling is an incredible platform.

I haven't done the profoundly impactful work many TED speakers have.

I've had a few conversations with people who are horrified: who tell me my work is demeaning, is sexist, is negative.

Modelling is no better or worse than many other professions, but it is more obvious, more accessible.

Mass media wants bright lights. Mass media wants crazy clothes.

Once you are a model, you do have to fly a million red-eye flights, and you do have to entertain a different client every single day.

I've never personally been anorexic.

We can't just pay attention to women who look fantastic in a photograph, because there are a lot of people that have fantastic things to say that don't look like 25-year-old white models.

I don't think fashion is evil.

Modeling is one of the few professions where women out-earn men, and that's because we're more valuable objects and ornaments.

I was bullied at school.

I'm a dork!

My favorite outfit is baggy black corduroy pants and a baggy T-shirt.

Women are often worried about how they look, and that's not superficial. We know that our appearance has nothing to do with how smart, creative, or hardworking we are, but it plays powerfully into what society decides we are worth.

At the Big Bad Lab, we build participatory art and media platforms for causes, communities and organizations we care about.

Sometimes, great collaboration is hard to nurture online, so doing so offline is the way to go.

I always wanted to become president! When I was a kid, I was obsessed with politics.

In the history of the world, all five mass extinctions have been accompanied by massive climate change, so we are facing an incredibly serious threat. In fact, we are technically in the sixth mass extinction right now, and it is the first mass extinction being attributed to humans.

Lately I've been feeling like 50 percent of the great content I read comes from Twitter conversations.

I do get free stuff.

Fashion is capitalism, and it will be fixed by what the market demands.

If I ever had needed to put together a CV, it would be quite short. Like many young people, I'd highlight my desire to work hard.

Like many young people, I believe I have potential to make a positive impact in the world.

The rise of the Internet and the camera phone have started to change what stories are accessible.

For the past few centuries, we have defined beauty as tall, slender figures, femininity and white skin.

Statistics show that diversity in the media is pretty dismal. Critical voices from women and people of color are missing from many important conversations.

In 2007, a very inspired New York University Ph.D. student counted all the models on the runway, every single one that was hired, and of the 677 models that were hired, only 27, or less than four per cent, were non-white.

Usually, TED only invites the most accomplished and famous people in the world to give talks.

One of the biggest issues for me is campaign finance reform.

When you're looking through a magazine, you'd think every single person's a different person, but every third girl is actually the same girl in a different outfit and makeup.

The barrier to entry, to being a model, is not hard work. You don't need a degree. You don't need to win an award. It's just about how you look.

I usually decide what to wear in the morning, but sometimes, I'll have a favorite coat or sweater or shoes, and I'll wear them everyday for a week!

My style is definitely not ladylike - frills and bows kinda scare me - but I like the military look because I love that olive green khaki color.

Having a couple really great basics makes it easy to dress well every day.

I think it's cooler when girls have favorite pieces of clothing rather than an entirely new wardrobe every few months.

Saying you want to be a model when you grow up is akin to saying you want to win the Powerball when you grow up. It's awesome, and it's out of your control, and it's not a career path.

The real way I became a model is I won a genetic lottery, and I became the recipient of a legacy.

If you are ever wondering, 'If I have thinner thighs and shinier hair will I be happier?' you just need to meet a group of models because they have the thinnest thighs and the shiniest hair and the coolest clothes and they're the most physically insecure women on the planet.

When I gave a talk at TEDx, I thought that if I did a good job, the video might go viral.

I have no idea what advantages I truly get, but I know people talk to me and give me time of day because they like how I look.

I work hard, but my modeling career gives my views undeserved attention.

You can be anything. You could be the President of the United States or the inventor of the next Internet or a ninja cardio-thoracic surgeon poet, which would be awesome because you would be the first one.

Becoming a model was very counter-culture for my background, which is hyper-liberal, academic and feminist.

My mum never told me that I was beautiful when I was a kid - and I didn't read magazines or watch MTV, so I had no real consciousness about it all.

Even if I did give a good talk, is what I have to say more important and interesting than what Colin Powell said?